Character of Bird-Life. 5 



of perching on the first branch, they hesitate, and 

 daintily decline the bough not quite to their fanc}'. 

 Blackbirds will cruise along the whole length of a 

 hedge before finding a bush to their liking ; the}' look 

 in several times ere finally deciding. Woodpigeons 

 will make straight for a tree, and slackj3n speed and 

 show ever}' sign of choosing it, and suddenl}', without 

 the slightest cause apparently, go half a mile farther. 

 The partridge which you could vow had dropped just 

 over tlie hedge has done no such thing ; just before 

 touching the ground she has turned at right angles 

 and gone fift}^ jards down it. 



The impression left after watching the motions of 

 birds is that of extreme mobility — a life of perpetual 

 impulse checked only by fear. With one or two ex- 

 ceptions, they do not appear to have the least idea 

 of saving labor by clearing one spot of ground of 

 food before flying farther : they just hastily snatch a 

 morsel and off again ; or, in a tree, peer anxiouslj^ 

 into every crack and crevice on one bough, and away 

 to another tree a hundred 3'ards distant, leaving fifty 

 boughs behind without examination. Starlings liter- 

 ally race over the earth where they are feeding — 

 jealous of each other lest one should be first, and so 

 they leave a tract all around not so much as looked 

 at. Then, having run a little way, they rise and fiy 

 to another part of the field. Each starling seems 

 full of envy and emulation — eager to . outstrip his 

 fellow in the race for titbits ; and so they all miss 

 much of what the}' might otherwise find. Their life 

 is so gregarious that it resembles that of men in 

 cities : watching one another with feverish anxiety — 

 pushing and bustling Larks are much calmer, and 



